‘We made a nuisance of ourselves’: how Citizens House created real affordable housing – for ever!

theguardian.com:

I n the back corner of a council estate in south London once occupied by dingy rows of lock-up garages next to a playground, there now stands a gleaming white brick block of flats. Big balconies jut out from its facade in a staggered grid, while a broad staircase loops up the back, where generous curved landings provide spots to stop and take in the view over the treetops to the skyline beyond.

At first glance, it’s a familiar sight. These must be the luxury apartments, built by a cash-strapped council in the name of “regeneration”, to help pay for improvements elsewhere on the estate. But the truth couldn’t be more different. These new homes were built by the local community, for the local community, and are sold at a price that will remain affordable to people on average local wages – for ever.

“We can’t quite believe that we’ve finally got here,” says Janet Emmanuel, assistant headteacher at the nearby Sydenham School, who started campaigning for community-led housing here 10 years ago. She is standing in one of the completed flats, which are priced at about 65% of the market value of homes in the neighbourhood, with one-beds for £215,000, and two-beds for £272,500. “For years, we had seen families priced out of the area,” she adds, “with teachers commuting from as far as Southend, and young people who didn’t qualify for social housing but couldn’t afford shared ownership. The community was being broken apart.”

Citizens House marks a watershed. After years of campaigning, plotting and planning, it is London’s first completed community land trust (CLT) created directly by local residents. Originating in the United States in the 1960s, the CLT is a radical affordable housing model that takes homes out of the property